Sunday, March 13, 2011

TOLEDANO TAKES OVER

This is the man who Galliano sent to the galleys. Passionate about the bulls, the president of Dior, of Sephardic origin, feels 'the master' of luxury.

The Dior catwalk again be occupied. With John Galliano held at a clinic in the Arizona desert, where he tries to combat his alcoholism and other addictions, Sidney Toledano has taken over the designer. The president of the 'maison' moved last week a strong message to the fashion industry to make it clear who is boss in this business and cut the eccentricities of the estate workers, by 'cool' they are. Nonsense, the fair. "Everyone who comes to Dior must have the humility to see how the shops and the catwalk," he warned. Accustomed to the circus productions of Gibraltar, the mathematician of Sephardic origin was postulated as the king of the track. The weight of Dior, a brand that threatened to ruin the mid-eighties, in the fabric of LVMH is tremendous. Gallic group raced last year the crisis with a turnover of 20,000 million euros and a profit of 3,000 million. The 'big boss' has a lot to do with the recent conquest of the Chinese market. "My eyes are detectors of all that can go wrong," he stresses. Since taking the reins in 1998, is determined to "protect culture" and how "unique" in that Dior - "a religion in which you have to believe" - ​​should be presented to the world When Bernard Arnault, owner of the biggest global luxury group, laid eyes on him, ran the company Toledano Lancel bags. Its first task was precisely to develop the area for bags, gear essential for the most exclusive brands. "With these cuts there are not problems of size. Are less subject to fashion than clothes or shoes and are cheaper than a dress, "he argues. Born in Casablanca and the son of a Moroccan who was allied to the Spanish Republican side, Toledano nailed with its strategy of manufacturing all the products of the legendary French house and stop licensingThe secret of his character is funny in its origins, he has been dancing flamenco with Galliano. Without naming the Moroccan executive dismissed the significance of this loss and said that the greatness and "Dior heart lies in 'les petites mains'' this army of anonymous workers' white coats' away from the spotlight and made ​​by craftsmen and seamstresses.It is true that even the "intolerable" racist incident, the relationship was almost idyllic. Shared "a Spanish mentality," his passion for bullfighting - "sometimes visualize the bullfighters and I think I've been brought up well" - and his desire to "fight." A Toledano, who likes to go to the Bernabeu to watch Real Madrid matches, it passes through Spain, he drooled increasingly coming parades. Last night he sat in the studio to watch Galliano. I had the feeling of facing a "filmmaker or a painter." An artist, in his opinion, "very professional, shy but not arrogant" and a "single eye" that allows you to see beauty where others see nothing. "Dior is the sun ', finished last summer. They were "perfect match" and had found a "'feeling'" that "do not learn in Cambridge or Harvard," admits the president, life taught him to "look." With only 18 arrived in France and began to set in Paris, which allowed him to develop a greater sensitivity to fashion. Why did not hesitate to dispense with Galliano. "When everything goes wrong, I'm more optimistic than anyone. After the blue sky, dark clouds coming, "prophesies. When they arrive, "I'll be ready." Because something is 'the master' of Dior. Luxury